USS Langley (CV-1)
History of the USS Langley Aircraft Carrier
The USS Langley (CV-1) was ordered for the U.S. Navy several years before World War I began, though her original name was the USS Jupiter (AC-3). Her keel was laid down at Mare Island Naval Shipyard in California on October 18, 1911. She was launched on August 14, 1912 and commissioned on April 7, 1913 under the command of Joseph M. Reeves.
As USS Jupiter, the ship joined the Pacific Fleet off the coast of Mexico during the Veracruz crisis in 1914. When she sailed for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on October 10, she became the first ship to transit the Panama Canal from west to east. Before World War I, she cruised the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico. She then made cargo voyages to France in June 1917 and November 1918, her earlier trip including the first American aviation detachment to arrive in Europe. The ship brought American servicemen home from the war in Europe in 1919 before heading to Hampton Roads, Virginia for conversion.
The USS Jupiter was decommissioned on March 24, 1920.She was converted into the first U.S. aircraft carrier with the new CV-1 classification; her name was changed to the USS Langley on April 11, 1920 in honor of American aeronautics pioneer Samuel Pierpont Langley. The USS Langley was recommissioned on March 20, 1922 under the command of Commander Kenneth Whiting.
USS Langley underwent a lot of testing and flight operations following her conversion. She performed demonstrations at flight exhibitions and participated in training cruises, fleet exercises and experimentation.
The USS Langley headed to Mare Island Navy Yard in Vallejo, California for overhaul and conversion to a seaplane tender on October 25, 1936. The conversion was completed on February 26, 1937, and she was reclassified as AV-3, assigned to the Aircraft Scouting Force. She sailed with the Atlantic Fleet until July 1939, when she sailed to join the Pacific Fleet at Manila.
When the United States entered World War II in 1941, the USS Langley was stationed off the coast of the Philippines. When the Japanese invaded the Philippines the day after they invaded Pearl Harbor, she sailed for Balikpapan in the Dutch East Indies and then Australia, where she joined the American-BritishDutch-Australian Command (ABDACOM). She ran antisubmarine patrols with the Royal Australian Air Force until January 11, 1942.
USS Langley provided transport and convoy duty to Southeast Asia. On February 27, she was attacked by Japanese air strikes. The ship took five hits, killing 16 men. USS Langley was dead in the water, and as her engine room flooded, the order was made to “abandon ship.” Her escorting destroyers, USS Whipple and USS Edsall, fired nine shells and two torpedoes to sink her and keep her out of enemy hands.
The use of asbestos was common in shipbuilding components for much of the 20th Century because of its resistance to heat, fire, water and corrosion. Because of their asbestos exposure onboard ship and in the shipyards, seaman, shipyard workers and longshoreman are at risk for developing asbestos-related diseases like mesothelioma .
Sources include: John Hedley-Whyte and Debra R Milamed, "Asbestos and Ship-Building: Fatal Consequences," Ulster Med. J. 77(3):191-200 (Sep 2008)
U.S. Navy, A Brief History of Aircraft Carriers – USS Langley
